‘Bucket List’ kicks the competition at theaters

Warner Bros.’ strategy of targeting older audiences paid off as its comedy-drama “The Bucket List” topped the weekend box office with $19.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Starring Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as cancer patients who seek adventure before kicking the proverbial bucket, the PG-13 film received tepid, and worse, reviews from critics. It played well with people over 35, though, as well as with women and staged a very strong showing in suburban markets.

The highest-grossing theater in the country for “The Bucket List” was the 13th Avenue Warren in Wichita, Kan., followed by theaters in Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and West Palm Beach, Fla.

“This movie has struck a chord with the heartland,” said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution. Only 40% of critics’ reviews were positive, according to a compendium by RottenTomatoes.com, but Fellman said that 95% of the weekend audience members surveyed rated the picture “excellent” or “very good.”

Sony Pictures’ caper comedy “First Sunday,” starring Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams, also beat expectations, ranking second in its opening weekend with about $19 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters. Fox Searchlight’s holdover indie hit “Juno” was third with about $14 million in a weekend dominated by comedies.

“The Bucket List,” which was produced for about $45 million, has grossed $21 million, including sales from exclusive engagements at a smattering of big-city theaters since Christmas Day. Warner Bros. estimated the audience at 70% over age 35 and 58% female.

The film failed to get the awards recognition the studio was hoping for, but it snapped a prolonged box-office slump for director Rob Reiner, whose last major commercial and critical successes came in the 1990s with “A Few Good Men” and “The American President.”

By launching at just 16 theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto on Christmas Day and waiting until now for a wider release, Warner Bros. enabled the movie’s word-of-mouth to slowly build. People responded enthusiastically to the first pairing of two acting legends as well as the movie’s message of embracing family and living life to the fullest.

Now, with the competition less crowded than it was during the holiday season, the movie will have more running room.

Films that skew older often show sturdy legs because mature moviegoers are apt to take their time rather than rush out to fight the opening crowds. If “The Bucket List” holds up well, it could top $100 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office.

The Nicholson-Diane Keaton comedy “Something’s Gotta Give,” from December 2003, ended up grossing nearly eight times its opening weekend total -- compared with the typical industry “multiple” of three.

“First Sunday,” produced by Sony’s Screen Gems division for about $20 million, played younger and more urban than “The Bucket List,” but also fared better than industry projections.

Although the PG-13 movie has a mostly black cast, it drew a diverse audience that was more than 40% non-African American, said Rory Bruer, president of domestic distribution at Sony.

“It played across the board because of a really funny ensemble,” Bruer said.

Cube -- whose resume of comedy hits includes “Friday,” “Barbershop” and “Are We There Yet?” -- and Morgan portray bumbling pals who try to rob a church, while Williams plays an eccentric choir director.

The movie averaged $8,600 per theater -- the highest in the top 10.

Like “The Bucket List,” it was a crowd-pleaser that most critics panned. Only 17% of reviews were positive, according to RottenTomatoes.com, but 82% of audience survey respondents checked off the “excellent” or “very good” boxes, Sony said.

The movie skewed slightly female, with 54% of the audience made up of women and girls.

“Juno,” Fox Searchlight’s latest little indie that could, kept chugging along in its sixth weekend. It ranked third with about $14 million.

By today, the $7.5-million-budget movie, starring Ellen Page as a wisecracking, pregnant teenager, is likely to overtake the 2004 wine-snob satire “Sideways” as the specialty distributor’s top hit.

Two other pictures opened wide this weekend.

The animated G-rated “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie” took in about $4.4 million to crack the top 10.

The kiddie comedy, made by Big Idea Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures, came in at the lower end of expectations.

The fantasy “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale,” distributed by Freestyle Releasing, took in about $3.3 million, ranking outside the top 10.

The upcoming holiday weekend could be a battle of the sexes.

The big movies at the box office are expected to be two that open Friday aimed at different audiences. Paramount Pictures’ “Cloverfield,” about a monster attacking New York, has keen interest from males, while 20th Century Fox’s “27 Dresses,” a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl, is targeted at females.

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josh.friedman@latimes.com

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Box-office results

“The Bucket List” and “First Sunday” both outperformed expectations in their nationwide debuts. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” surpassed the original “National Treasure” from 2004 at the domestic box office. Overall results were about flat with the same weekend a year ago. Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks (studio) (millions) (millions) 1 The Bucket List $19.5 $21.0 3 (Warner Bros.) 2 First Sunday 19.0 19.0 1 (Sony) 3 Juno 14.0 71.2 6 (Fox Searchlight) 4 National Treasure: Book 11.5 187.3 4 of Secrets (Disney) 5 Alvin and the Chipmunks 9.1 187.7 5 (20th Century Fox) 6 I Am Legend 8.1 240.2 5 (Warner Bros.) 7 One Missed Call 6.1 20.6 2 -- (Warner Bros.) 8 P.S. I Love You 5.0 47.0 4 (Warner Bros.) 9 The Pirates Who 4.4 4.4 1 Don’t Do Anything (Universal) 10 Atonement 4.3 25.2 6 (Focus) *--*

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Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $131.0 -1.0% $0.37 +10.5% *--*

Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue.

Source: Media by Numbers